BC is clocked by Pitt
Time is on Panthers' side in win
The seeds of this setback were sown in the third quarter.
Boston College, after taking a 3-point halftime lead, became unraveled in the third quarter yesterday as the Eagles had a hard time accomplishing two basic tasks: They struggled to keep their offense on the field and were unable to get their defense off it.
"And I think that was the difference in this football game," said BC coach Tom O'Brien after the Eagles (5-4, 1-3 Big East) lost yesterday to No. 25 Pittsburgh, 24-13, suffering a blow to their bowl aspirations before an Alumni Stadium crowd of 41,983. If any stat told the story, it was time of possession in the third quarter. Pittsburgh (6-2, 3-0) held the ball for 11 minutes 7 seconds in the period.
The Eagles held the ball just long enough to inspect the laces on three series before punting it back to the Panthers, who ran 20 plays and gained 79 yards in the quarter -- 4 more yards than BC gained in the entire second half.
"In the third quarter, we made one first down," O'Brien said, referring to Quinton Porter's 16-yard pass to tight end Sean Ryan on BC's first play of the second half.
"The next time we came out, we dropped a pass on first down. We overthrew a pass on first down. We weren't able to sustain anything those two series. At the same point, the defense had trouble getting off the field."
Pittsburgh ended up running 83 plays to amass 488 yards total offense. The Panthers were led by senior quarterback Rod Rutherford (24 of 37, 329 yards) and the nation's leading receiver, sophomore wideout Larry Fitzgerald (seven catches, 156 yards, one TD).
At the outset, the Eagles were able to keep the ball away from Pittsburgh's vaunted passing attack. BC senior running back Derrick Knight got the Eagles off to a roaring start by ripping off runs of 20, 12, and 6 yards on his first three carries. Knight, showing no ill effects from the sprained left foot/ankle he suffered in last week's 27-25 victory over Notre Dame, helped BC take a 3-0 lead on Sandro Sciortino's 34-yard field goal.
Knight carried 19 times for 119 yards, becoming the third back in BC history to break the 3,000-yard mark. He also became BC's sixth straight 1,000-yard rusher, topping both marks on his first carry.
David Abdul, who set a school record with four field goals in last year's 19-16 overtime victory over BC at Heinz Field, tied it with his 32-yard kick.
Pittsburgh running back Jawan Walker gave the visitors a 10-3 lead with a 3-yard run with 13:34 left in the half. Walker factored in all three Panther touchdowns -- by running, catching, and throwing for scores.
Horace Dodd (eight carries, 43 yards) tied it at 10 for the Eagles at 10:37 of the second quarter. The Eagles' 10-play, 58-yard march -- highlighted by Ryan's 20-yard catch that made up for his 15-yard personal foul the play before -- was capped by Dodd's 1-yard scoring plunge.
Sciortino gave BC a 13-10 lead at the break by converting a 23-yard field goal after nine-play, 87-yard march sputtered at Pitt's 5.
After neither team was able to score in the third quarter, Pittsburgh capitalized on a weary Eagle defense in the fourth when Rutherford's lazy screen pass to Walker went for a 47-yard TD and a 17-13 Pitt lead. The Eagles seemed to have answered when Knight ripped off a 22-yard run and then went off left tackle for an apparent 41-yard touchdown. But Big East officials nullified the score when junior wideout Grant Adams was called for holding Pitt cornerback William Ferguson.
"It was probably one of the worst moments of my BC career," Adams said. "You're trying to win the game and we came back and answered and to be called for holding there was devastating."
So, too, was BC's play selection immediately thereafter.
After running the ball for 63 yards on two plays, BC tried to throw the ball, which resulted in Porter being sacked for a 5-yard loss. Then, on second and 15 from Pitt's 34, Porter was dropped for a 2-yard loss on a failed option play. On third and 17, Ferguson batted away a deep desperation heave to Joel Hazard.
The Panthers sealed the victory on their next series as Walker connected with Fitzgerald for a 35-yard pass.
"It seemed like they were setting us up all game," said sophomore corner Will Blackmon, who matched up against Fitzgerald and played him tight the entire game save for Pitt's last TD.
"They kept running the sweep to [Tim] Murphy the whole game. Fitzgerald would come off the ball the same way, he'd come off slow and he'd either work his way to [senior safety] Paul Cook or he'd work his way up to me.
"It was the exact same thing he did all game, and then he just took off. There was nothing I could do about it at all. They have a great offensive coordinator. He's very, very smart. He was setting stuff up all game to get his No. 1 player open."
With the score, Fitzgerald established an NCAA record for touchdown catches in 14 consecutive games, surpassing the previous mark he shared with former Michigan State wideout Charles Rogers (13).
"I wouldn't say it was the easiest [touchdown], but the most wide-open," Fitzgerald said. "When I saw them bite, I knew I had it. When I saw the ball in the air, all I was thinking was, `Execute the play.' " That he did, and BC was unable to recover in the 8:13 remaining in the game.
"It's really hard to handle it, really hard to stomach," senior linebacker Josh Ott said of the devastating loss that came on the heels of last week's euphoric win over the Irish.
"You have a good win and get the momentum going and then this happens. It's like a 12-round fight, but when you keep taking punches in the face, it's hard."
